Notes from running the work
Playbooks and plain opinions on quoting, scheduling, getting paid, and the tools behind them — written by the founder, who runs a contracting and real estate business on Stairkey every day.
Subscribe via RSSContractor expenses on the T2125: what actually goes on which line
Where a contractor's real costs land on CRA Form T2125 — subcontractors, job materials, tools, vehicle, home office — and the mis-files that cost the most.
How to estimate a renovation job: the six-step process that protects your profit
A working contractor's process for estimating renovation jobs: the walkthrough, the material takeoff, labor priced from crew-days, overhead and profit, and a contingency you can defend.
Progress billing for contractors: get paid as the work gets done
Waiting until the end to invoice is how contractors run out of cash mid-job. Here's how progress billing works — milestones, percentage-complete, retainage — and how to bill a job in stages without a billing department.
The construction punch list: how to close out a job and get the last cheque
The last 2% of a job causes most of the friction over final payment. Here's what a construction punch list is, what each item needs, and how a rolling list closes the job out faster.
Estimate vs quote vs bid: what's the difference, and which one to send
Estimate, quote, and bid get used interchangeably — but they mean different things, and one of them can become a binding contract. Here's the difference, and which to send when.
Job costing for contractors: how to know which jobs actually make you money
Two jobs can bill the same and earn wildly different money. Here's how job costing for contractors tracks labor, materials, and overhead so you see real profit per job.
Change orders: how to stop eating the cost of scope creep
Every contractor has swallowed an out-of-scope cost they should have billed. Here's what a construction change order actually is, the six fields it needs, and how to keep scope creep from wrecking your job costing.
Renovation costs every realtor should understand before they list
Agents who can speak credibly about what a renovation costs price homes better and win more listings. Here's the structure-and-finishes knowledge that sets you apart — and how to put a real number behind it.
After Repair Value (ARV), explained for agents and investors
After Repair Value is what a property is worth once the work is done. Here's how ARV works, the rule of thumb investors use, and why your repair estimate makes or breaks the whole calculation.
Markup vs margin: the contractor math that decides whether you make money
Confusing markup and margin is one of contracting's costliest mistakes. The difference in plain numbers — and how to price so planned profit is profit you keep.
What goes into a detailed contractor quote — and why clients say yes to it
Clients pick the contractor whose quote spells out the work. What a detailed quote should include, why the detail wins the job, and how to produce one fast.
Why I built Stairkey: a contractor and realtor who got tired of his own paperwork
I've run a contracting business since 2014 and added a real estate licence in 2018. The work was never the problem — the paperwork was. So I built the fix.
Drowning in contractor paperwork? Turn days of admin into minutes
The build is the easy part — quoting, invoicing, and follow-up eat your evenings. How contractor business management software turns days of admin into minutes.
Stop double-booking the crew: scheduling and billing for service businesses
The best revenue, the worst scheduling. How scheduling software for service businesses catches conflicts early and bills only the visits you complete.
Never miss a critical date: transaction management for busy agents
Offers, showings, conditions, and critical dates are where deals slip. How real estate transaction management software keeps every deal — and client — on track.
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